Location Guide - Diamonds Are Forever
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Japan / Egypt / South America
James Bond is
in vengeful pursuit of the master-villain, Ernst
Stavro Blofeld after the death of his wife, Tracy
Bond. 007 travels from Japan to Egypt and finally
catches up with Blofeld in an unidentified South American
locale. Here the villain is experimenting with facial
reconstruction in order to 'clone' himself. Bond
confronts one villain he assumes to be Blofeld before
a second Blofeld walks in on his torture of the double.
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South Africa
MI6 is receiving reports of excessive diamond smuggling
from mines in South Africa. Whilst the diamonds
work their way through the hands of various crooks
and goons, as does a series of unexplained and mysterious
deaths. Behind this trail of death is the duo Wint
and Kidd who delight in devising amusing and
sadistic demises for their prey.
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London & Dover, UK
In London, Bond is briefed by M and Donald
Munger, the Service's diamond expert. Here, James
Bond is tasked with tracking down the final destination
of the intricate diamond smuggling ring. M insists on
sending 007 on the mission for fear that the diamonds
are being stockpiled in order to depress the market price
and shatter global economy. In Dover with the
help of the lavish Moneypenny,
Bond outwits Peter Franks, the known diamond smuggler
at passport control and boards a hovercraft bound
for
Amsterdam
in his place. |
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Amsterdam, Netherlands
Bond liaises with the savvy Californian diamond smuggler, Tiffany
Case, at her 3rd floor apartment at Reguliersgracht
36 in North Amsterdam. Bond has to improvise a close-quarters
battle with the real Peter Franks and perform a quick-switch
of identity to impress Tiffany and keep his cover intact.
Bond establishes the next port of call for the diamond
ring as Las Vegas and calls on the corpse of
Peter Franks to transport the valuables.
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Las Vegas, USA
Felix Leiter is
on hand to help seamlessly ship the diamonds through
customs and a shady undertaker collects the coffin
as the next link in the chain. At the mortuary, Bond
is almost cremated before the goons discover he had
planted fake diamonds. Promising to lead the goons
to the stash, Bond follows a trail that leads to
the high-profile Whyte organization.
In the basement of the impressive 'Whyte House',
Bond discovers the construction of a high-power laser
satellite all but ready to hold the world to ransom.
Scaling the Whyte House, Bond breaks into the penthouse
to find Blofeld - the puppet-master of the scheme. |
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Willard Whyte's Home, California, USA
In the Californian desert, Bond pays Willard Whyte a
visit to find him held hostage by two feisty femme
fatales, Bambi and Thumper. After dispatching with
the duo, Bond springs the trapped billionaire free
from the entrapment of his own home and pieces together
a plan to trap Blofeld and prevent the launch of
the villain's space satellite. Seconds too late to
stop the launch, Bond, Leiter and
Whyte attempt to locate the control station for
Blofeld's laser satellite.
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Baja California, Mexico
Bond and the CIA mount an operation to overtake
the lonely oilrig off the Pacific coast of North America.
Bond takes on Blofeld onboard the rig, rescuing the damsel
Tiffany Case and destroying the satellite control system.
Onboard a Pacific cruise, Bond and Case indulge
in a delicious
yet explosive dinner, served by the manic assassins Wint
and Kidd. Tipped off by the suspicious aftershave, Bond
smells a rat and sets light to one goon whilst flipping
the other overboard with the bomb.
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Shooting Diamonds Are Forever
Bond veterans Sean Connery and Guy
Hamilton returned to the larger than life, Americanized, 007
adventure: "Diamonds Are Forever".
Hamilton rolled cameras on the seventh Bond adventure on April
5th 1971. Locations for the adventure were primarily stateside
with Vegas and LA playing key roles. The director opened with a
scene starring Bruce Glover and Putter Smith as the henchmen Wint
and Kidd. The South African locale, where the duo set a scorpion
on their prey, was actually filmed in the Californian desert.
Above: Bond motors from London to
Dover, where he assumes the identity of jewel-smuggling
Peter Franks for a voyage to Amsterdam... |
Connery arrived in Nevada on the 11th of April
and work began in and around the roaring city, Las Vegas, utilizing
many hotels owned by the entrepreneur Howard Hughes who was friendly
with producer Cubby
Broccoli. The character of Willard Whyte was inspired by
the reclusive Hughes.
By May '71 the second unit team were back in
the desert filming the famed, if curious, sequence in which James
Bond drives a stylized moonbuggy in
order to escape from the Whyte science centre. Meanwhile, Hamilton
and Connery worked at Palm Springs to capture sequences at the
Californian home of Willard Whyte - really Elrod House, designed
by John Lauter.
Above: Charting the miles across the Atlantic from Amsterdam to glitzy Las Vegas... |
After the moonbuggy sequence the second unit worked in downtown Vegas to capture the Mustang's highway pursuit through the night. The crew received special permission to close specific streets in the city in order to perform stunts on the genuine location. The back lot at Hollywood's Universal Studios would also serve in the filming of this extended car rampage. The car parks here were fully utilised and a mock-up of a Sin City back alley was built in order for the stunt drivers to squeeze the Mustang through on two wheels.
Another key location for the crew was Amsterdam,
where 007 rendezvous with the smuggler and soon-to-be-ally, Tiffany
Case. The crew shot in north Amsterdam and on the canal, where
the so-called Skinny Bridge was a key landmark as the body of
a diamond smuggler is retrieved from the depths of the Amstel
Cannel.
Above: From Vegas to the Whyte house and finally a costal climax off the shores of Baja, Mexico... |
James Bond returned home in June 1971 to shoot on the soundstages at Pinewood Studios. Ken Adam's lavish sets, notably the interior of Whyte's penthouse, were mocked up on four stages at the Buckinghamshire studio.
Friday 13th August saw a wrap on the production
of "Diamonds Are Forever" - dead on time, unlike its
predecessor, "On Her Majesty's Secret
Service" which was plagued with problems and over-shot
by more than two months.
